Table of Contents

Preface to First Edition
Preface to Fourth Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One: Arthur Penn, Oliver Stone, and David Fincher: Body's Montage, History's Mise-en-Scene, Contours of the Horizontal Line
Chapter Two: Stanley Kubrick: Tectonics of the Mechanical Man
Chapter Three: Martin Scorsese: Expressions of the Streets
Chapter Four: Steven Spielberg, War, Superheroes, and the Digital Mise-en-Scene
Chapter Five: Robert Altman: Radical Surfaces and Independent Means

About the Author

Robert Kolker is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Maryland and Adjunct Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. He is the author of numerous works on film and media, including The Altering Eye; Film, Form, and Culture; and Media Studies: An Introductory Textbook.

Reviews

"An excellent work of film criticism, and as such, demands response and debate....Kolker's analyses of each director's work...are stimulating, provocative, insightful and passionate, models of film analysis."--San Francisco Review of Books
"Brings the films into clearer focus for film-goers. The filmmakers themselves will find Kolker's analysis of their works extremely accurate."--Martin Scorsese
"The best book on contemporary American film ."--The Washington Post Book World